Press Releases

Legislative committees dealing with civil justice have tended so far this year to approve bills that would undermine California’s economic recovery and to hold up legislation to deter wasteful lawsuits.

California’s personal injury lawyers are scheduled to be in court tomorrow in an effort to thwart the will of the 77% of Californians who voted for a fairer, less expensive auto liability system with their passage of Proposition 213 last November.

“The misguided securities lawsuits that Proposition 211 thrust into the spotlight last year are one of several breeds of wasteful litigation that have been pounding at high tech companies. The Governor’s five-point package targets other these areas of high concern, like abuse of the state’s Unfair Competition Act and punitive damage laws.

“The Governor’s five-point package is a solid, refined plan targeted at areas of law which the trial lawyer industry has been twisting to its monetary ends. The Legislature should treat these bills as balanced proposals that will benefit the vast majority of Californians who know that unjustified suing hurts the economy.”

The California Supreme Court ruled today that Kentucky Fried Chicken cannot be sued by a customer who claimed emotional distress after being held at gunpoint by a man who robbed the company’s restaurant in Redondo Beach in 1993.

“For the fourth year in a row, California’s business leaders have identified the state’s liability laws as the leading negative drag on our economy. This is a situation that well preceded the trial lawyers’ propositions [211 and 207] on the November ballot and, unfortunately, will continue as a major problem until the Legislature steps in with some balanced reforms,” said John H. Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Association of California.

Oral arguments will be heard by the California Supreme Court Wednesday, October 9 in the highly controversial Kentucky Fried Chicken v. Los Angeles Superior Court case, which resulted from a Redondo Beach fast food restaurant holdup in which a thug took a customer hostage at gunpoint and threatened to shoot her because the clerk wasn’t quick enough opening the case register.

The following is a statement from John H. Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Association of California, in response to President Clinton’s announcement of his opposition to Proposition 211, the securities lawyers’ attempt to circumvent federal securities litigation reform:

One in every five California businesses has restricted hiring because of employment lawsuits, according to a survey by a San Francisco-based public policy firm. Forty-eight percent of the businesses say the state’s employment termination laws have made liability insurance more expensive, while 11 percent say these laws have actually caused a reduction in the number of employees on payroll.

Further evidence of runaway punitive damage claims is presented in a four-county study by the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC). The study found that nearly a third of all contract and tort cases involved demands for punitive damages.

Significant lawsuit abuse reform legislation measures have recently been enacted in many states that compete with California for jobs and businesses, but California has yet to act on a number of civil justice reform bills still pending in the state Senate.

The State Assembly today passed several major legal reform bills, sending a clear message that the Legislature has acknowledged that California’s liability laws need fixing and that 1996 could be the year to make it happen.